~ ~ Our Family ~ ~

This is Adi helping me wrap presents before Christmas and I told her "Shh don't tell Daddy what we got him.." and she then went around the house "Shhhhh-ing" everytime we got out the wrapping paper! Cutie!

Christmas Eve before we left for my mom's house that night

We always go to my parents for Christmas Eve for a Huge Delicious Dinner and then we read Twas the Night Before Christmas and usually pass around a present, well this year we added a NEW TRADITION...My mom explaining the rules....

She wrapped a bunch of little gifts that would normally be in our stockings....
You roll the dice once then pass it, if you get doubles....

You get to put on ski gloves and try to unwrap as many presents as possible til the next person gets doubles.....Mark diving in...

She even had a bucket for the kids to unwrap gifts for them...

Adi enjoying her new little gifts, Thanks Mom & Dad!
Everyone was shouting and laughing, it was hilarious and Fun!

Then...Christmas morning at our own house...
Santa came...

opened stockings

Santa brought Aldon 2 new Wii Games

and Adilynn got a new 4-wheeler!

Then we went to my mom&dad's for more christmas morning presents

find your stocking........or your uncle's will work!

Adi loves her Pony that Gami & Bompa got her!

Quite the haul...and quite the mess with this huge of a family!

These are the handmade Christmas Platters and Jeweled Servers that I made
for my mom and Mark's mom (the platters are Christmas fabric modpodged underneath)

Bompa with Meigan

Then we left that afternoon and drove through a huge blizzard to spend

CHRISTMAS with Mark's Family
Everyone was able to make it but one of his sisters, so it was quite a full house.
They are all playing Aldon's new Wii game Mario Striker Soccer!

The kids all got tools and cooking utensils with handmade aprons from Gramma

cute ribbon Tu-Tu that my sis-in law made for Adi

We had a wonderful Christmas with both families! We then continued our trip and drove up to Island Park that Saturday!

I finally gave up on trying to get some great professional outside shots of my kids, since it started snowing, so here's me settling for pictures of the kids I took at our house....they turned out pretty good I think...considering the lighting and what not!

It finally snowed! In fact it was quite the storm, it was so windy last night it woke Mark and I up from the snow hitting our window like hail! So naturally, we were all excited to go out and play in the little inches of snow that we got...now it feels like December...finally!

Adi- our little snow-puffed snowman!

We invited Alexa out to come and play in the snow!
Aldon, Alexa, Adilynn

Even when the older kids were cold and wanted to go inside, Adi was still wanting to be out in the snow...I couldn't get her to go inside...she cried the whole way in, and then stood at the window pointing outside saying, "Meese, Meese, Meese" (that's her "please") It was so cute and sad, she finally got sidetracked and went to play upstairs with the other kids!
She loves the snow!

We had a fun game night last night over at our Friends Jana & Joe's house! It was fun to get together with friends before we all get too busy with the upcoming holidays!

Those that came: Joe & Jana, Jackson & Rachelle, Chris & Amanda, Stillman & BreAnn, Heidi & Luke, Angie & Nick, and Us

Fun times!

We've made it a tradition to go Christmas Tree hunting to find the "perfect tree"(a.k.a. humble Charlie Brown Tree) every year. We love it and usually make a fun trip out of it on snomobiles! This year there's no snow, or only an inch of it, so we took the 4-wheelers instead, it was a blast! Aldon loved it and Adi did too since she fell asleep while riding of course! We were also able to stop and see the lights a this house that goes all out for Christmas...fun fun fun...we are ready for Christmas!

Aldon made these decorations at Pre-school the reindeer is his hands and his foot is the head.

I love this time of year...though it gets really busy... it is so much fun to have kids to enjoy it with, they seem to make it even more exciting! I also love the Christmas spirit that seems to radiate out of everyone and the excitement in the air, sharing the Holidays with Friends and Family, and celebrating the birth of our Savior.